is this somehow a leftover stitch?

[rainbowmoon]

I swear I have a leftover stitch in my c/s incision leftover from 42 months ago. i never noticed though it until recently though.. my mom thinks it's impossible (she's a nurse) but she does agree it looks like a stitch. can it be left alone? how is it possible it didn't disolve? ( and btw I had staples anyway, no stitches that were visible anyway) so how can this even be???? I have had my incision checked by a few dr's since at various times even, no one's ever said anything. or is it something else? it looks just like this and approx the same size---> l <--- it is black and slightly raised. any ideas?

[mwherbs]

pull it out- if it is a stitch -- if your mom is a nurse she should be able to help do that if it is a loop clip one side and then pull -- there are non-dissolveable sutures- and there are some sutures that just take forever to absorb-- you are healed by now don't you think so there is no reason to leave that stitch in and try to force your body to absorb it-- at this point it is just an irritating foreign body-- take care

[rainbowmoon]

there is a thin layer of skin over it. should I dig it out? my instinct is to leave it alone. my mom is back east now.

I think I will wait and have the OB check it out in a few weeks (I have an u/s scheduled to check out cysts)

[Sheal]

I had this happen to me post partum 6 weeks. DO NOT leave it, it can cause infection!!! It's a foreign object and your body will grow skin around the whole stitch to protect itself (like mine did). I pulled mine myself and ended up with a nice hole there for 3 weeks that I had to take care of. The doc didn't tell me he used one stitch on my incision and the rest was a special skin glue with a clear tape over it. I got no recovery instructions from the nurse, just you are discharged and shoved me out the door...

A pair of tweezers will help grasp (I only had to use my fingers) the stitch and pull gently - since it's been there for so long you actually might need to see your MW\Doula\OB to have it removed because of skin growth.

Sheal

[mwherbs]

what ever you are comfortable with-- I am a do-it-yourself kinda gal so I would pull it myself-- could it just be scar tissue? --- I have pulled out and put in several kinds of stitches- ; )

[DoomaYula]

I had a TON of leftover stitches from my breast reduction, starting about 6 months post-op I started getting these inflamed bumps and I could see part of a stitch (supposedly the dissolving kind) and it would come out with a little pressure. Kind of like getting a pimple. I too had "holes" that took a few weeks to heal.

[rainbowmoon]

ok, I might pick at it a bit and see what happens.
it's never been inflamed or anything like that. it is just the wierdest thing though!

the only other thing i can think of is maybe it's a hair sliver/ingrown hair (but my body hair is not very dark?) would scar tissue be blackish on a very fair skinned person?

wierdness! I never had stitches showing initially, but I know there was some in the inner C incision. or at least that's how my doc explained it at the time. (My scar is 2/3 dissapeared too and this "stitch" is in the dissapeared spot.) so I don't get it!

[sevenkids]

I just saw somebody who had staples put in 3 years ago,(gall bladder surgery) and a stray staple just worked its way up to just under the skin of her belly. Very odd, it's just right under the skin and movable. Says it doesn't bother her, though.
If it's under the skin, ask your doc to remove it, no sense keeping it there. If it's outside, gently pull on it with some tweezers and see if it comes out. Your body is trying to get rid of it, might as well help it along.

[Sheal]

I've had dissolving ones work their way out to the skin's surface for both my sections (and still have some doing this with the second one almost 6 months post op). They look exactly as you described - a bump with a dark black middle to it. These ones I have are working their way up from the inside and I let them go naturally because they are dissolving stitches but the one that I had to pull was a clear - non dissolving stitch (they have different colors that indicate tensile strength, blue *turns black because of body rejection* for dissolving, white for medium tensile, black for strong...ect. It also depends on the company they buy their stitching from apparently too for colors).

Sheal

[HeatherB]

I apparently had a left-over stitch come to the surface and pop out after my HBAC. I never examined my scar but found a bump that started bleeding shortly postpartum from the HBAC, and my MW said she's seen that happen before. Thankfully it healed up again with no obvious issues. I do think it's quite bizarre, but it's clearly not that unusual!